Senior Care Resource Line:

Faces of The Summit

Katherine Scharhon

Years ago the mothers did not want children in their kitchens. That changed for me when I was in middle school. I had made oatmeal cookies in my home economics class. I enjoyed baking so much that I came home and asked my mother if I could bake in her kitchen. To my surprise, she said “Yes!”

Ever since baking has been a significant part of my life. It is important for me to continue the Sephardic tradition of baking delicious pastries. My parents were both from the Island of Rhodes and I grew up eating those wonderful baked goods. When my mother baked she always used a green cup as a method of measurement. In those times the women didn’t formalize recipes with actual measurements. If you asked someone about a measurement they would say “you fill a cup.” How long do you bake it? The answer: “not too long.”

In order to pass the recipes down through the generations having correct measurements was essential. I revised the old recipes to my taste and feel and wrote down the measurements. I always baked to support my synagogue, Sephardic Bikur Cholim.

I am told that I have a reputation for my borecas and over the years, I have been happy to teach others some of my baking secrets. How many borecas have I made? Thousands!